Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 93: Modeling Public Law
Within a few days, Li Shanchang's worries finally came to light.

The bad news is that what he feared in the first place happened.

As expected, His Highness the Prince knew in advance that overseas rice seeds could not be reproduced, and found a new method of disaster relief.

The good news is that he thinks this method is a fantasy. A crop that he has never heard of can be used as a staple food, and he claims that the yield per mu is several kilograms?
No one would believe it.

Li Shanchang sighed softly in his heart, finally able to have a good sleep.

Human nature is like this. We are more afraid of the unknown than the known problems.

Because the unknown means not knowing the solution, not knowing how serious the matter is, and feeling fear because of the inability to grasp the situation.

Li Shanchang was in this state before.

These days, he has been worrying about this matter and has barely slept peacefully for a day.

As for pulling out the rice seedlings that had already been planted and planting potatoes instead, Li Shanchang could only curse in his heart.

"Yang Xian, you mistook me for the Ming Dynasty!!!"

Naturally, he did not dare to scold the Zhu family and his son, so he could only point the finger at Yang Xian, who promoted potato planting.

In fact, it’s not just Li Shanchang.

With Hu Weiyong deliberately fanning the flames, most officials had this attitude.

For those who have never really seen or eaten potatoes, Yang Xian's actions wiped out the rice in several provinces.Originally, relying on these rice harvests, even if the disaster could not be completely solved, at least many people could die.

the other side.

Yangzhou government office.

Because of disaster relief, Zhu Biao has been running here a lot these days.

Sometimes, they even live here directly.

"Yang Qing, do you mean to take in those refugees in advance?" Zhu Biao asked.

Yang Xian nodded and said: "Now that the disaster has not completely erupted, we can guide some people in the Sanjin Land to come to the south in advance. In this way, the pressure can be relieved, and when the disaster completely erupts, there will be no wave. The pressure is too great and beyond what the local government can bear.”

Zhu Biao nodded. He understood this principle, just like flood discharge.

But, come to the south, where to come?
Which city can accommodate so many people?
Zhu Biao asked his question.

Yang Xian smiled and said: "I'm not talking about any other place, but Yangzhou. His Highness the Prince only needs to be told that there is a city in the south that can give them enough food, good clothes, and land to live in. And they have to do it What is important is work, working five hours a day in exchange for enough food, I think they have no reason to refuse."

"What the imperial court needs to do is to send people to transport them to Yangzhou in batches."

Yang Xian proposed this plan at the right time. Although the drought has destined the people in the Sanjin area to have no harvest this year, it is not yet the autumn harvest season, and the family still has enough food for a few days.

At this time, the people of Sanjin were undoubtedly desperate. They could only watch the rice in the rice vat at home bottoming out, and they were unable to do anything.

As soon as Yang Xian's plan came out, it was a ray of light that broke through the darkness for them.

Strictly speaking, these people were not yet real victims of the disaster.

They will not be in a state of collapse of order like the victims of the disaster.

Zhu Biao hesitated for a moment, finally nodded and said, "Okay, let's follow Yang Qing's method. If there are problems with public security by then, I will ask my father to dispatch troops directly from the capital."

Yang Xian smiled and said: "Yangzhou Mansion has three battalions and nearly five thousand soldiers and horses. Your Highness the Prince does not have to worry about public security issues."

Can Zhu Biao not be worried? Yangzhou is so close to the capital, and no one can afford it if something unexpected happens.

If this proposal was not made by Yang Xian, Zhu Biao would never have agreed to it.

"Is Yang Qing trying to imitate Song Fan Gong's work-for-relief method?" Zhu Biao asked.During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan was the chief executive of Hangzhou.

It happened to be that year, there was a famine due to natural disasters in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and countless people died of starvation and were displaced.

Among the measures taken by Fan Zhongyan, one of the key measures was to carry out large-scale construction projects and use work as relief.

Fan Zhongyan persuaded the temple to build temples while labor costs were low, and he also overhauled various government buildings to provide jobs for the refugees.

According to historical records,

"Those who trade in food, work, and work hard, and rely on public and private matters for food, will have tens of thousands of people every day."

From the perspective of modern people, the work-for-relief method is naturally good anywhere.

But this was not easy to implement in ancient times.

This is also the reason why almost no one used this policy in ancient dynasties and generations.

The most critical point is that ancient my country was an agricultural society.

For most people, their job is to farm.

In years of famine, there is a severe drought, the land is cracked, and nothing you plant will survive.

There is not enough food in itself, and asking people to work will not produce more food, so a large amount of disaster relief food must be allocated.

Rather than simply letting the people survive, some rice soup or even bran is enough.

As for the work-for-relief program, since these victims are to work, they must at least be fed and strong.

Therefore, in order to provide relief through work, the court had to invest more disaster relief food.

This is contrary to the fundamental purpose of the court's disaster relief.

For the imperial court, it only needs to avoid creating a large number of refugees and causing local riots.

At this time, some people may ask, how cheap is the labor force if we use work-for-relief programs?

This is what Fan Zhongyan thinks, but if you look at his "work", they are all things like repairing temples and government buildings.

There is no way to generate big profits.

Again, in an agricultural society, there are not that many "workers", or valuable types of work, to provide.

Fan Zhongyan's behavior not surprisingly led to the impeachment of supervisory officials.

The impeachment memorial stated that Fan Zhongyan did not think about how to provide disaster relief, but instead carried out large-scale construction projects and wasted people's resources.

It was precisely because of knowing this that Zhu Biao expressed concerns about Yang Xian's actions.

But his worries were completely unnecessary for Yang Xian, because the Yangzhou development itself required a large number of people. Taking advantage of the low labor force at this time, not only could he save a lot of money, but he could also earn merit points by the way.

"Does Yangzhou really need such people?" Zhu Biao asked.

Yang Xian smiled and said, "I'm still worried that there aren't enough people."

Construction sites in various communities need people, and factories need people. In the end, if it doesn't work, we can still build roads.

It’s almost time to start construction on the planned Beijing-Yangzhou Highway.

As Yang Xian spoke, Zhu Biao listened, becoming more and more shocked as he listened.

"Don't worry, Your Highness the Prince. If it really can't be accommodated by then, these people can be sent to wool processing factories in various places to prepare for this winter in advance." Yang Xian said.

(End of this chapter)